This site went live in October 2010 to flesh out technology and legality of CYBER PRIVATEERING as I wrote DADDY'S LITTLE FELONS. The novel pays homage to my old friend Judge Pat Brian, who died of pancreatic cancer on June 28, 2010.To get updates as new articles are posted, enter your email below:

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Friday, December 10, 2010

The Perfect Virus principle #16: Team Isolation

As indicated in my post of Monday, 11/22/2010, I am extrapolating Jeff Walker's Principles for the Perfect Application into a discussion of The Perfect Virus. Since Jeff's monograph on the subject did not anticipate stealth or suicide mechanisms, any errors or lapses into stupidity are solely my additions and should not reflect poorly on what I consider to be the biggest single contribution to software application design since the invention of computers. And Jeff, thanks for giving me permission to do surgery on your baby.

THE PRINCIPLE OF TEAM ISOLATION: The Perfect Virus dashboard (described in Prosumption, principle #11) provides each team, indeed each team member (although we will cover this in more detail in principle #20, Individuality) with an effective, independent workplace.

Team Isolation recognizes the vastly different roles, methods, and goals of platoons, squads, divisions and armies fighting either a cyber privateer action or a full-blown cyber war. Not only will their dashboards look different, but the operational rules of engagement will also vastly differ. For illustration only, some of the functional roles include:

Intelligence gathering will probably concentrate on penetrating the source-code management systems of major software suppliers, hardware vendors, and subsystems vendors (and their suppliers, I might add). Virtually undetectable trap doors can be inserted into some surprisingly mainstream systems of you "roach" the supply chain.

Reconnaissance in force forays directed at critically important and super-hardened sites.

Management of the "Parley Request Dashboard" outlined in Draft 01 of The Cyber Privateer Code, since failure to properly respond and (if necessary) undo damage or make financial restitution could not only cost the parent organization its charter but indeed its very existence. The importance of this role is suggested by my nomination of Nancy M. Harvey to my Cyber Privateer Fantasy team, to head up compliance.

Counter-attack tripwire notifications that you've failed the Stealth protocol and the enemy is hot on your trail.

The CTO/Architect dashboard for the system architect to apply creativity and genius to continuing R&D for The Perfect Virus (see my nomination of Jeffrey L. Walker to my Cyber Privateer Fantasy team; Jeff is probably the only man on the planet who could build this architecture in a timeframe measured in seasons and not eons, because he's the only person on the planet who has actually built a Self Aware architecture).

The Chain-of-Command dashboards in all their specialized glory, including what I call…

The Larry Ellison Dashboard where the entire organization may be managed by the Top Dog Privateer (see the first nomination to myCyber Privateer Fantasy League). From my own personal experience with Larry, he is fully capable of doing just about anybody's job (well, except for Jeff Walker, who Larry admits is probably smarter than even the great LJE) in any organization better than that person can do the job. He needs specific rules and trip-wire notifications when a group is running amok, so he can parachute into the mess and clean it up with extreme prejudice.

Thus, Team Isolation is really a business process requirement. Even if a lone wolf genius manages to secure himself (or herself) a valid Letter of Marque and Reprisal from a major government (hey Australia, history is still waiting to be made), that lone wolf will probably find it helpful to construct several different dashboards for the several functions necessary to make lots and lots of money (and to keep that money).

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Implementation suggestions for THE MORGAN DOCTRINE are most welcome. What are the "Got'chas!"? What questions would some future Cyber Privateering Czar have to answer about this in a Senate confirmation hearing?

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Background: Welcome black hats, white hats and cyber swashbucklers

The Revolutionary War was fought, financed, and pretty well WON by bonded privateers, legalized pirates who were given Letters of Marque and Reprisal by the Continental Congress and authorized to attack, capture and monetize British ships. The purpose of this site is to explore the possibility of a modern-day doctrine much like the Monroe Doctrine, by means of which the U.S. government could legally and, more importantly, effectively stop international hackers. Current cybercrime law is not only ineffective, but downright stupid. My Linux servers are attacked hundreds of times a day (mostly from China and former USSR domains), yet if I retaliate against those servers with some creative technology at my disposal (I know some VERY smart guys), then I am in violation of federal law and subject to some onerous penalties. We need more than a new law. We need a new international doctrine. I call it The Morgan Doctrine, named after Morgan Rapier, a fictional character I've created (hey, this is my way of establishing ownership of the concept, should it ever see the light of day).

Why a new international doctrine? Simply, nothing else will work. Introduced on December 2, 1823, the Monroe Doctrine told the world to keep their hands off the Americas. Combine this with current legal thinking on "hot pursuit" of fugitives. In 1917 the US Army went into Mexico after Pancho Villa. More recently, in 1960 Israeli Mossad agents abducted Adolf Eichmann from Argentina. Granted, much of the world regards the Eichmann adventure as a violation of international law. I don't share that opinion and therefore use it as the third leg of my Monroe-Pancho-Aldof platform for The Morgan Doctrine.

If someone comes into your home and attacks or attempts to rob you, you may shoot them dead. You may do so as long as they expire on your property. But what about cyber criminals? They attack you in your home from their homes. Retaliate in kind, and you go to jail. The Morgan Doctrine states simply that if you attack my computers (or my banking assets held in US-based computers), then under a certain set of well-defined conditions, a licensed and bonded "cyber privateer" may attack you in your home country and split the proceeds with the U.S. government. For the sake of argument, let's call it a 50-50 split (heh heh).

Right now, American law enforcement is completely unequipped to deal with the sheer number international cyber hackers. Sure, I could report each of the thousand daily attacks to the FBI, as could the millions of other attackees in the USA. But the volume of such reports would make any meaningful resolution laughable. Not to mention that the FBI has no jurisdiction outside the USA. Yet to make such "enforcement" profitable to recognized (ie, "bonded" "deputized") privateers, as Heath Ledger's Joker said in his last role, "Now you're talking!" You raid our bank accounts, we raid yours. You make money from off-shore child pornography, we're going to loot your bank accounts and, with some REALLY creative black hat operations, you will be taken off the grid worldwide to the extent that you'll not even complete a cell phone conversation for the remainder of your miserable depraved life. Okay, that last part probably won't fly, but you get my drift.

The purpose of this site is to explore the mechanics, legalities and practicality of The Morgan Doctrine.

And I will be the sole arbiter of whether or not your comments get posted. As Mel Brooks wrote, "It's good to be king."